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Technical Skills

Open Source Contributions

Main

Liz Roten

I am a highly motivated data scientist and cartographer with a passion for data visualization. I make complex topics easy to understand using compelling visual design. My static and interactive visualizations are attractive and powerful tools for decision making.

Experience

Data Scientist

Metropolitan Council

St. Paul, MN

Current - 2018

  • Data scientist in community development research and travel research and modeling.
  • Duties include data visualization, research methods and statistical model development, and R package development and maintenance.
  • Promoted from Associate in May 2021

Research Intern

Metropolitan Council

St. Paul, MN

2018 - 2018

  • Developed innovative method for using aggregated and anonymized location-based services (LBS)/ cell phone location data to analyze regional parks traffic patterns across multiple seasons and years.
  • Independently created an interactive, online data visualization using open-source tools, such as R Shiny, and a git-based workflow.
  • Successfully presented findings to stakeholders and provided complete documentation.

Every Penny Counts Emergency Financial Assistance Program Assistant

JustUs Health

St. Paul, MN

2018 - 2016

  • Completed tasks such as check requests, posting, data management, record keeping, and program development.

Sexual Health Educator

Macalester College Health and Wellness Center

St. Paul, MN

2018 - 2015

  • Collaboratively developed sexual health education curriculum for all first-year students
  • Worked with student organizations and administrative offices to provide seminars on topics including sexual violence, Title IX Policy, and healthy relationships

Submissions Manager

Persephone’s Daughters

Remote

2017 - 2015

  • Helped produce a high quality literary magazine that fulfills the mission of empowering women who have experienced various forms of abuse and degradation.
  • Organized all prose, poetry, and art submissions and direct an international staff via internet communication.

Teaching Fellow

Breakthrough Twin Cities

St. Paul, MN

2017 - 2015

  • Taught 7th and 9th grade students in Summers 2015 and 2016 with independently developed math and epidemiology curricula
  • Planned and executed a leadership retreat for about 40 ninth grade students.
  • Planned and executed a two hour show displaying our students’ hard work to an audience of at most 650 people, as well as a display hallway, potluck, t-shirt, and planning necessary for each.

Health Advocate

Minnesota Internship Center Charter High School

Minneapolis, MN

2016 - 2016

  • Advocated for students ages 14-21 in doctor, dental, vision, and health insurance needs.
  • Served as certified Mnsure navigator

Communications Chair

Tennessee Conference of the United Methodist Church

Nashville, TN

2014 - 2012

  • Elected by peers to direct photography and video production for large youth events
  • Coordinated peers, administrative staff, and conference production company staff

Education

B.A., Geography, (Data Science, Community and Global Health)

Macalester College

St. Paul, MN

2018 - 2014

  • Emphasis on data science, GIS, quantitative research methods, and visual design

Select projects and talks

The ‘I’ in Team - Peer-to-peer best practices for growing data science teams

posit::conf

Chicago, IL

September 2023

  • How to gracefully expand your team without pulling your hair out

Transportation System Performance Evaluation

Metropolitan Council

St. Paul, MN

May 2023

  • A comprehensive review of the Twin Cities transportation system, built with R and Quarto

Oddly Satisyfing - Find delight in the mundane

rstudio::conf(2022)

Washington, D.C.

July 2022

  • How to take a project you hate and turn it into something you love

COVID-19 Surveillance at the Metro Plant

Metropolitan Council

St. Paul, MN

February 2022

  • Open source project and R Shiny app

Regional Truck Corridor Study

Metropolitan Council

St. Paul, MN

December 2021

  • Making a legacy project reproducible

Regional Parks and the American Community Survey

Metropolitan Council

St. Paul, MN

March 2021

  • Interactive visualization displaying regional parks and trails in context with American Community Survey (ACS) demographic data

Monitoring public adherence to social distancing guidelines with traffic data

2020 AMPO Virtual Conference

Remote

October 2020

  • To estimate public adherence to social distancing guidelines during the Coronavirus outbreak, we analyzed departures from typical traffic volumes on the metro freeway system of the Twin Cities region. A robust modeling approach, open-source code repository, and web-based dashboard for interacting with the data are assisting decision makers in Minnesota as they update social distancing guidelines and monitor economic recovery.

Using Location Based Services Data for Calculating the Greenhouse Emissions of Communities in the Minnesota Metropolitan Region

2020 AMPO Virtual Conference

Remote

October 2020

  • To address the scarcity of transportation emissions data in Minnesota, the Metropolitan Council of the Twin Cities has developed greenhouse gas emission estimates for transportation and land for cities, townships, and counties of the Twin Cities Metropolitan Region. This session will demonstrate how to leverage big data to centralize this type of research, save public funding, and enable communities to focus their efforts on implementing strategies to become more sustainable.

councilR

Metropolitan Council

St. Paul, MN

October 2020

  • Created and maintained an organization specific R package
  • Package includes templates, color palettes, and standard data processing functions

[Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Passenger and Commercial Transportation]https://www.lizroten.com/project/greenhouse-gas-inventory/)

Metropolitan Council

St. Paul, MN

July 2020

  • Independently developed technique for estimating greenhouse gas emissions from commerical and passenger vehicles
  • Collaborated with colleagues to include data in comprehensive greenhouse gas emissions inventory

Minimum distance to COVID-19 testing facilities

Metropolitan Council

St. Paul, MN

July 2020

  • A map series analyzing how COVID-19 testing centers are distributed across Minnesota

A brief introduction to R packages and package development

Metropolitan Council

St. Paul, MN

May 2020

  • Introduction to the R package I wrote for the Metropolitan Council
  • I review the anatomy of an R package, highlight a few package features, and provide an overview of how to use GitHub for collaboration at the Council.

Who is a local? Using aggregated cell phone location data to research regional parks visitors

Metropolitan Council

St. Paul, MN

March 2020

  • Tallk and workshop for students on using aggregated location-based services (LBS) data to gain insights on regional parks visitors

Como Regional Park Hex Grid StreetLight Analysis

Metropolitan Council

St. Paul, MN

June 2019

  • Visualize high activity areas within Como Regional Park and seasonal trends

Chuck Green Civic Engagement Fellowship

JustUs Health

St. Paul, MN

September 2017

  • Independently researched mental health disparities through large-scale client survey and literature review
  • Gathered comprehensive feedback from JustUs staff through focus groups and interviews




Select Data Science Writing

I blog about data science and visualization on my website lizroten.com.

Color Palette Exploration

lizroten.com

N/A

July 2022

  • Color palette exploration with ggplot2 and generative methods

Radial rtistry

lizroten.com

N/A

April 2021

  • Generative art with ggplot2

Maps with {edgebundle}

lizroten.com

N/A

March 2021

  • Mapping US flight networks

Converting Peloton resistance to Bowflex C6 resistance

lizroten.com

N/A

March 2021

  • Visualizing spin bike difficulty

Finding the perfect sock pattern with ravelRy

lizroten.com

N/A

April 2020

  • Using the Ravelry API to find just the right sock pattern

Housing Density in US Cities

lizroten.com

N/A

February 2020

  • Examining residential zoning in Pittsburgh, Austin, and Boston

Fisk’s ‘Mississippi Meander’ in R

lizroten.com

N/A

October 2019

  • A few maps inspired by Harold Fisk’s 1944 geological investigation

Visualizing mental health data with ggplot2

lizroten.com

N/A

August 2019

  • Visualization project using my own daily mental health data
  • Designed both static infographic and animated plots

3 Years of Mental Health: A quantified-self story

lizroten.com

N/A

December 2017

  • Mapping my travel patterns and mental health from 2015-2017

HIV and African American Populations in the US

lizroten.com

N/A

November 2017

  • A value-by-alpha map showing the intersection of African American populations and HIV prevalence